Common Sense
by charmed kitty
Summary: Prue Piper and Phoebe... Season 2... work in progress.
1. Default Chapter

"Come on, that is so unfair Piper! I was kicking your butt!!" Phoebe cried as Piper turned off the video game.

"Yea, and now some of us have to go to work!" Piper called out as she picked up her keys from the front table. She turned around and froze the room, knowing instinctively that there would be a pillow flying at her. Laughing she moved out of the way and grabbed the pillow to throw back at her sister.

"Okay, so now who has premonitions?" Phoebe asked sarcastically.

"It wasn't a premonition, just common sense." Piper giggled. She unfroze the room and headed out the door for work, just in time to miss Phoebe sticking her tongue out at her. It was going to be a long day at work Piper figured. She had a band coming in for a sound check at 11, and then at noon she had to immediately switch gears and interview people for a second security guard. There had been some trouble with break-ins and fights in the area and Piper wasn't ready or willing to take any chances.

"Okay, here we go…" Piper thought to herself as she got out of the car and unlocked the back door to P3. Jiggling the handle she found that it was sticking, so she pushed and pulled until finally the door popped open revealing her treasured club. More and more people had been coming to the club lately which gave Piper some room to sit back and enjoy some of the profits. 

When walking through the door, however; to Pipers dismay she found a message on her machine stating that the band wouldn't be able to do their sound check until noon, so she would have to deal with interviews and the band at the same time. She was just about to sit down and relax when the phone began ringing harshly, and insistently. She sighed and set down her cup of tea and pressed the speakerphone button.

"Hello, this is Piper…" a hoarse voice on the other end of the line whispered something to her that was utterly inaudible to the human ear. "Who is this?"

The other party hung up and Piper was left puzzled. Just to be safe she called Prue at the office and inquired as to whether it was she who had just mysteriously called.

"Me, call? No, me swamped! Okay, bye Piper!" Prue slammed down the phone and stared at the mess that was her desk. Not only did she have about a dozen artifacts sitting on her desk, but she had ten phone messages, five inquiry files, 16 closing files, and 13 new client papers. Prue wondered how she was able to see over her desk as Jack waltzed in wearing a goofy Hawaiian shirt and jeans. He was smiling so smugly that Prue couldn't help but desire to move a chair in front of him just so he could trip and fall on his face. Seeing Prues glare Jack stopped dead in his tracked and moved to the side of the room. Jokingly he tiptoed against the wall over to her desk and pantomimed being threatened with many large objects.

"What's with you?" He asked her smiling. Continuing over to her desk he leaned over the piles of paper and stared at her. "A little behind on your paperwork… or maybe I should say… a little below…"

"Shut up Jack… today is not the day for idiotic wisecracks." Prue went back to her paperwork and tried to prepare herself for whatever comeback Jack was going to shoot at her. Although she seemed annoyed at his relentless teasing, sometimes it was fun for her to step back and laugh at herself. Today, however; was not one of those days. She had promised her sisters that she would go to the club with them at 8 and at the rate she was going, Prue wasn't sure that she would be out of the office until 8 tomorrow morning.

"Fine! Then I won't help you! Sheesh, a guy comes in to help his partner out, and what does he get? Nothing! Must be that time of the month again!" Jack walked away disappointed and Prue looked up just as he was walking out the door to apologize. She figured that it would be better to take care of work and apologize later… she could always apologize, but who knows how long she'd have a job.

Back at the manor Phoebe had just settled down to some good cartoons and a bag of carrots when she heard the phone ring. It was the same kind of urgent ring Piper had heard at the club. Phoebe got up and walked over to the phone… when she picked it up she heard nothing but some faint hoarse whispers. Just as she was about to hang up Phoebe experienced a premonition. She once again tried to make out the words of the person on the other end of the line before hanging up and calling Piper. There was no answer so Phoebe decided leave a message and started walking down to the bus stop.

After five minutes of tapping her foot Phoebe had just about given up on the bus.

"Rapid transit my…"


	2. Chapter 2

"Rapid transit my…" She finally found herself on the bus and on the way to P3. The bus was practically empty except for a little old man sitting in the front, and two obnoxious teenagers making out in the back seat.

"I've never seen you on here before…" The man commented, turning his bald and wrinkled head around to reveal a set of almost purple eyes, squinting at Phoebe behind thick glasses. "I ride this bus every day… have for the past 30 years."

He seemed to be interested in telling Phoebe his story so she didn't interrupt and tried to seem more interested in his story than her own worries. Listening to the man tell his life story seemed almost magical for an instant, then suddenly another premonition hit her.

It was dark, and cold… she could see another bus travelling down the street, it crept along. Phoebe didn't recognize any of the stops it was making, and could clearly see the old man, and two young people that were on the bus with her. Just as she was coming back out of her premonition the man was finishing up his story.

"So that's why we're here… that's why you're here too I suppose…" he turned his head away and left Phoebe to ponder the areas of the story she had missed during her premonition. Looking out the window she saw the bus driver pass many stops where people were waiting.

"Excuse me? Excuse me, but aren't you supposed to pick those people up too?" she asked

"They don't get to ride this line yet… little lady"

Piper had just finished her tea and had listened to the message on the machine from Phoebe. 'Coming here' she thought. Oh jeez Pheebs, could you have picked a worse time? Sitting down she pondered what Phoebe meant by a premonition about a bus… she knew that Phoebe had had some pretty strange ones, but a bus? Brushing it off, she sat down to start on some interview questions.

"Okay, first… name… no, that's on the application…" Piper paused mid sentence and thought with horror… "Applications! I forgot to make applications!"

Immediately Piper pulled out her keyboard and started typing. It was already half an hour since Phoebe had left the message, but Piper was so involved in her work she hardly noticed. She knew that if she didn't get more security at her club people wouldn't want to go to it anymore. I was as simple as that. At 11:30 Piper started getting hungry so she pulled out a sandwich and ate with one hand while typing with the other. She ate quickly and finished her applications and printed them at 10 to 12. Piper quickly rushed into the bathroom to check her hair and makeup. She popped a fresh stick of gum into her mouth and went out and set up a table for the interviews to take place at.

At work Prue had only started to chip away at the massive piles of work that had been set on her desk when another stack was added on top. Looking up from her desk exasperated, Prue again saw the goofy smiling face.

"Jack! Go away! If I don't finish this I am going to lose my job!" She looked up again expecting to see him sulking away as he usually did after she yelled at him, but instead he was standing there goofy as ever. "Hello, Jack… did you hear me? I said go away now! I mean it!"

Calmly sitting across from her Jack pulled out a bag with Chinese food and started setting it out on a side table. He didn't utter a word when she let out a loud sigh and stuck her head back into the paperwork. He merely continued setting up lunch and served her the food he had bought. Seeing that she was ignoring him completely Jack picked up one of the files that he had just brought her and worked on it for her. He continued working through the files that were on her desk until she agreed to have lunch with him.

"Okay, fine… I will eat lunch with you if it makes you happy!" Through Prues scowl he detected a smile and so he sat down with her to enjoy their Chinese feast.

"It might be a little cold now…" he commented. Not sounding at all like his usual pain in the butt self Prue became concerned, but then relaxed figuring he was just trying to be nice.


	3. Chapter 3

Looking out the window Phoebe didn't recognize where they were so she stepped up and pulled the stop signal; figuring it would be easier just to take a cab to P3. The signal didn't work however and the driver kept driving on his unusual route.

"Such a shame…" said the old man, "you seem like such a nice little thing too."

"Thanks." Phoebe said questionably. She was now visibly concerned about the premonitions she had had. What did they mean, what could possibly be wrong with riding a bus? She wondered what she should do, and if Piper even noticed she was late.

"Umm, does this bus stop ever?" Phoebe asked sarcastically. She hadn't intended on saying that out loud, but it had slipped out.

"Of course my dear, it stops every so often on it's way to pick up more people and let some off." He responded calmly. She seemed to be more relaxed at this comment at first, but then immediately did a double take.

"Some people get off? What do you mean some people get off?" She had no intention to let this little slip of the tongue go by unnoticed. She waited for an answer when she heard the bus come to a stop and the young couple in the back screamed with delight as they were let off the bus. Phoebe hadn't noticed anything unusual about them until they were leaving. They were both wearing big bright colors that she hadn't seen since the 80's, and the girl had a huge hole on the front of her shirt. Thinking that maybe that was just her style she got up and tried to get off the bus.

"I'm sorry Miss, it isn't your turn yet…" The bus driver said coldly. "You're going to have to wait until someone has finished your business."

"I just want to get out and take a cab to P3… it is like 2 miles away from where I got on… now let me off this bus!" She began raising her voice when the driver again refused to let her off the bus. She vaguely recognized the voice, but wasn't quite sure where she'd heard it before. Reluctantly she sat back down and started to ponder how she had gotten on the bus in the first place.

"Thank you, I'll get back to you about this…" Piper slammed her head down on the table as another applicant disappointed her. He was the fifth who had no prior experience, and; she thought, could probably be taken out by a ten year old. "I am a good person!"

Just then the band setup was finished and she anxiously awaited their music. Their music didn't help the migraine headache Piper had started to develop, so she left the room while they finished playing a set. When she glanced down at her watch she noticed how long it had been since Phoebe had left the message on her machine. Not certain what to do Piper checked the bus schedule to see if she could determine when Phoebe would arrive. The transit number she had tried calling was busy for each and every one of the five times she had tried. 'There must be a lot of Phoebes out there,' Piper thought.

"Jack, I am so sorry for asking you to leave earlier. I don't know what I would have done without your help, you are so great." His fingers caressed her stressed shoulders as the couple enjoyed their picnic lunch.

"Jack, hello? Anybody home?" she said annoyed with him. He had been gazing off into space for the past few minutes, she wondered what he was dreaming about this time. 'There couldn't be much other then hormones flying around that empty head of his,' she thought. "Jack, down and to the left…"

"Huh? What?" looking down to his stilled hands he pulled back and returned to his work. After filing through papers for a few minutes, he again looked up to meet her startled gaze. "Were you saying something?"

"Yea… where were you…" thinking to herself before giving him time to answer, "um, never mind okay… I don't want to know…" She looked at all the work that was still sitting on her desk, and thought to herself, 'Phoebe has got it sooo easy'


	4. Chapter 4

Phoebe no longer recognized the area she was travelling through. Everything had turned into a big blur for her… nothing seemed to make sense to her. It seemed as if they had been going all over the place, not just San Francisco, but she didn't remember crossing a bridge over into Berkeley or Marin. She tried to remember more details about the premonition she'd had earlier. What did it mean? Just then another person climbed onto the bus, this was a child. 

She looked around and took the seat next to Phoebe, she dawned a purple dress and a small purple helmet. The little girl looked up at her with large questioning eyes. Phoebe noticed a crack in the helmet and wondered where the girls parents were. The little girl reached out and held Phoebes hand for safety.

"Where are we going?" her voice shook as her eyes filled with tears.

"I don't know sweetie, where are your mommy and daddy?" Taking the girls hand gently into her own Phoebe got a second premonition. "Oh my G-d!"

Phoebe shrieked when she saw the little girl crash through the window of a mechanic shop. She directed her attention to the little girl, and wondered how she could have crashed through that window… and survived. Her brow furrowed and again she asked the driver to stop the bus. She checked her watch to try and find out how long she had been travelling. The face of the watch was cracked and the watch had stopped. "Dammit!" she shouted. It had been a birthday present from Prue, to try and help her stay on schedule. She tried to remember how it had become cracked, but shook of the thoughts and tried to focus on the task at hand.

Piper groaned as she looked at the clock. The incessant ticking had seemingly gotten louder and louder until she thought she could no longer stand it. That was a half hour ago, she had been through 7 more dissapointing interviews and it was just enough to put her over the top. 

"That's it!" shouting to the empty club she pushed herself up off the chair. "That is it! Ugh! Phoebe where are you?!"

She looked up at the clock and was becoming more frustrated with every tick tock. She checked her watch, and went over to try calling the transit company again. Seeing the phone had been off the hook she frustratedly put her hand to her head and leaned on the bar, moaning, "Ooh, this is not my day"

Piper dialed the transit and found that it was still busy. She dialed home next, hoping Phoebe had just forgotten that she was heading to P3 and gone home. "Pick up… pick up… Phoebe? Phoebe its Piper… where are you? Okay well as soon as you get this message call me!"

She looked up to see another applicant enter through the door and prayed that this one would be it. Looking over to the tall stack of applications she scowled. Knowing that this would definitely not be the last applicant she would have to deal with. She walked over to the table she had set up and shook the mans hand.

"Please, have a seat." Sizing him up Piper found that he didn't look too shabby. "Ah, it says here you were previously a bodyguard. Can you tell me a little more about that?"

"Sure… I worked for Escorts to the Stars for 5 years and have just recently moved out to California from New York. I also worked as a bouncer in a private club in New York City." He smiled largely, seeing he had impressed her.

Smiling she shook his hand, just as another man walked in. The second man looked big and tough as did the first, but there was something familiar about him. Squinting her eyes at him she found that she recognized him all too well. Putting her hands up she froze the room. Cocking back her head, she looked to the sky, "Why… what have I done to deserve this?" She let out a frustrated scream and went back into position. Trying to smile as time resumed Piper thanked the man for his application and assured him that they would be in touch.

Prue was still working at her desk when she was interrupted by a frantic assistant. "Ms. Halliwell, you have a phone call. It is an emergency. Very urgent. You will take it?"

Prue looked up at the woman and sighed. "No, I will not take it… I don't have time for this! Can't you just take a message? Do you not see this pile of papers on my desk? I have to get through these! How can that possibly be so incredibly difficult to understand!" Having risen from her desk to a standing and very declarative position Prue flopped back into her chair and grabbed the nearest folder. She didn't look up again until the assistant had left the room, grumbling.

Leafing through the papers in the file, Prue kept looking to the door. Expecting the assistant to come back with another urgent message. She could no longer concentrate on her work and was extremely frustrated with everything. Picking up the phone she called Piper at P3. She hoped that Piper could calm her fears about the emergency so that she could get back to her job… while she still had one.

Comforting the little girl was little help in comforting herself. Phoebe was afraid now and didn't know what she could do to calm herself or the little girl. Standing once again she went to speak with the bus driver. Once again he told her that it was not yet her time to get off this line. Going back to her seat she saw the little girl staring at her in disgust. Sitting down she reached out to take her hand again but the child pulled away.

"Whets wrong sweetie?" Phoebe tried to see what was wrong as she looked at the girl. "Are you hurt?"

Tears filled the young girls eyes as she backed away and pointed at Phoebe, stuttering she tried to speak through her fear. "Y-y-you b-b-b-b-bbback. I-it-it-its…" The girl could no longer continue speaking as she burst out into open sobs. The old man sitting near them had turned around to look at the young girl. Phoebe tried her best to quiet the girl but all of her efforts seemed to be of no use. Phoebe looked to the old man for help. Hoping he would know what she was talking about.

"Excuse me sir? But do you think you can help me out here?" Phoebes eyes pleaded with the mans old and warn eyes.

"Well young lady… it appears she is upset over your being here with her. I remember when I first boarded this bus so long ago…" Phoebe wiped her brow and stretched her arms and legs. Trying this time to pay more attention to the mans story.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hello, P3?" Piper answered the phone.

"Piper? Its Prue… has anything happened that I should know about? Did you call about some kind of emergency?" Prue sounded upset over the phone, and Piper hoped that Prue had heard from Phoebe.

"Prue, no, how did you find out? Is she okay? Do you know anything? Are you there with her, where have they taken her?"

"Piper… what are you talking about… where have they taken who?" A long silence follows and the angst in the air becomes heavy. "Piper?"

"Prue…" she looks over to the man standing in the shadows. "Prue... Leo is here with me right now... he um... he... Phoebe's been in an accident honey." Sobs are heard on the phone. Piper trying to keep a strong form loses her strength and melts into Leos arms. 

"Prue? It's Leo… I think there is a way we can get her back, but we need the book of shadows. I will take Piper back to the manor with me. We will need you there."

Calming herself Prue shakily put the phone down and walking to the door waves off all questions being thrown at her. As soon as she got to the manor she ran up the stairs to find Piper and Leo hunched over the book. Prue rushes over to Piper and hugs her, tears still wet on Pipers face Prue again becomes the Mother and comforts her.

As the bus drives on its circuit Phoebe puts the pieces together. The premonition that she'd had earlier that day… what had it meant. Looking around the bus Phoebe rose and looked towards the back of the bus where the two hippie teenagers had been. She walked back quickly but didn't see them anywhere. 

"Excuse me! Sir? Mr. Bus Driver? Where did those kids get off the bus?" Phoebe marched up to the front of the bus, intending to tell off the driver. He turned to her, and simply stated that they had found their stop and continued driving. Walking back to an empty seat, away from the girl and old man Phoebe tried to remember everything that had happened that day. "What is going on!?"

Leaning back in her seat Phoebe thought about the video game she had played with Piper. She remembered Piper leaving for P3 and turning on the television. There had been a phone call, and then she'd had the premonition. It was a Bus… and there were people on it… riding it… What had it meant… why was it so important she see the old man. Thinking harder she tried to remember what else she had seen. "The newspaper!"

Jumping up from her seat, Phoebe practically fell over with excitement and rushed forwards to the old man. She searched the area around him to find the paper he had been reading in her premonition. 

"What is it you are looking for young lady?"

"Do you have a newspaper?"

"Why… I believe so…" Reaching down under his feet he picked up a fresh newspaper and handed it to Phoebe. Phoebe searched through the paper for something... anything that would give her a clue what was happening.

"Piper what are we looking for?" Prue was still stressed from work and hadn't yet gotten a handle on what they were trying to do. "If she's been in an accident shouldn't we be there with her? What good is this going to do us?"

Looking over at Prue, Piper cries again. She seems desperate to find out what she could do to help her little sister. Not fully understanding what is happening either, she turns her attention to Leo. "What is happening Leo?"

"She's… she's stuck… kind of. If someone has died before there time or has unfinished business they get stuck between worlds. Until that problem has been resolved there is nothing that they can do other than wait." Leo finds what he is looking for and shows it to Piper and Prue.

Prues eyes quickly scan the page and she looks to Piper to see if they agree on what they must do. Reading it more carefully Piper looks at Leo with great concern. "Leo… this spell needs the power of three! How can we possibly save her if we don't know where she is?"

Looking up to the ceiling Leo nods and returns Pipers heavy stare. "I'm sorry… that's up to you…" In a great flash of blue lights Leo orbs away leaving Piper and Prue alone to decide the best course of action.


End file.
